Sixth Visit to Glide Memorial

Mia Vandermeer

24 August 2016

Glide Memorial in San Francisco

James ?

?

As I was driving up to Glide today, I was listening to a talk on NPR about people’s success in life and how it is achieved. The speaker was explaining that the reason why some succeed in life and others do not is purely attributed to luck; people’s hard work can only get them so far, and most often than not, those that succeeded were those who were lucky, those that were in the right place at the right time, if you will. This talk became increasingly relevant on my sixth visit.

Today I was assigned to scoop grits onto the food trays. This assignment made me extremely nervous as it was my first time working in the actual kitchen with the food. Teahrly, a volunteer whose job was to replace the empty grit vats with full ones, explained that I had to be scooping one tray every two seconds in order to keep up with the flow of the crowds; we were expecting to serve more than 775 breakfasts this morning. I pre-scooped about ten trays five minutes before the doors opened. After I loaded the grits, I slid the trays to Isaac and Bob, two volunteers who then put eggs and toast on the trays. Prior to the doors opening, I attempted to calm my nerves by talking with Isaac and Bob. I soon discovered that they were roommates in a halfway house; Isaac had just gotten out of prison and Bob has been recovering from a drug addiction. The conversation was cut short when the doors opened. As I began scooping rapidly in order to maintain the flow of the food lines, I realized the validity of the talk I had heard earlier that morning. The people that I was volunteering with were not much different than those we were aiding. Isaac and Bob admitted to me that they had caught a lucky break which placed them on the opposite side of the meal counter than the homeless. Even my position in the kitchen was attributed to luck. It wasn’t my hard work that allowed me to be a grits-scooper in Glide, but rather the luck that placed me in my particular family that gave me the opportunities I have received. Ultimately, I realized that the people on the other side of the glass pane in the kitchen were no different than me. Not only did this make me grateful for the blessings I have received but it inspired me to continue volunteering at Glide because I am not only able to do so, but I am lucky enough to be able to do so.

Third Visit to Glide Memorial

Mia Vandermeer

26 July 2016

Glide Memorial in San Francisco

James ?

?

Today, I volunteered in the kitchen at Glide Memorial in San Francisco. Glide Memorial is an organization that provides an abundance of aid to the less fortunate of San Francisco. Not only does it offer child day-care, group therapy sessions and community events, but it also provides three free meals to the homeless 364 days a year. I have chosen to work in the kitchen at Glide because to me the idea of going through a day without a full stomach is unimaginable.

As I walked into the kitchen today at 6:45am, I passed the long line of people waiting for the kitchen doors to open. For breakfast, the doors first open at 7:30 to the senior citizens. James, the operations manager, jokes that the elderly are just the warmup of the morning and that the real marathon starts at 8:00 when the doors open to the public. All my experiences so far have concluded that he is right.

My job today, just like my last two visits, was to bust the tables of the “cafeteria”, a room about the size of two Menlo classrooms put together. I make sure each table is spick and span for the next people who come to sit at it by wiping down the tables and making sure the juice and milk pitchers are constantly ¾ full. When I was first assigned this job, I was instantly filled with gratitude. The fact that Glide was assigning volunteers to ensure that the quality of the breakfast experience was high proved that the organization not only wants to help people get their daily nutrients and vitamins, but also be treated well and respected as individuals.

Jun Ru - Second PACT Reflection

Jun Ru Anderson

August 15th, 2016

Jun Ru/Ishani Organization

??

??

Today, we went to Project Read to show Joahan, a student in the Redwood City Public School System, the game I made, that teaches repeated addition. What he had to do was tie ropes of different lengths together and then find the length of the piece of rope he ended up with. He said it was cool, though I suspect he found it somewhat juvenile, because he also suggested we show it to his younger brother, who is in third grade. I expected this - the game is having him do something he already knew how to do.

But despite that, I think he learned something from it. He realized what it means to add, and got a feel for why the various properties work. For example, by tying the same segments of rope in different orders, he got a feel for the commutative property. By tying the same ropes differently (tying ropes one and four, then two and three, then tying those two together), he saw that however you group numbers when you add, you get the same result. This is the associative property. He still can’t name either property, but he can use them, and I am going to declare that a victory for everyone involved.

I had been really worried that this game wasn’t going to matter, that it was just going to teach kids how to do something they already knew how to do. I was worried that it was a waste of time. However, by seeing how this game enhanced Joahan’s understanding of basic properties of addition, I realized that it was helping. That even though I might have thought it was dumb, and he might have thought it was dumb, it was boosting his understanding of math in a way that would help him as he moved on to harder stuff. I’m still getting that urge to introduce new content and to keep pushing forwards, but this experience has shown me that sometimes it can be worthwhile to go back instead. And not just for a child like Joahan, who is, I’d guess, at least three grades behind in math, but also for anyone who doesn’t understand something. I sincerely hope that, when I am confused in a class in this coming year, that I remember this experience and, rather than keep going blindly, I’ll stop, go back, and fix the problem at its roots.

Jun Ru - First PACT Reflection

Jun Ru Anderson

March 3rd, 2016

Jun Ru/Ishani Organization

??

??

By this point, Ishani and I have been working on our games for three weeks, and have met to discuss our progress each week. I, like Ishani, have been lucky enough to recieve an exceptional education, and I naturally wished to pass this on to the kids we were going to share our game with. However, by week three, I have realized that this is an unreasonable goal.

In addition to working on my game, I continued to tutor Joahan, a child I’ve tutored since ninth grade, each week. Officially, I am tutoring him only in English, but sometimes, when time permits, we take a look at his math homework as well. So, when his homework aligned reasonably well with the content of the game I was working on, I’d ask him a few questions about the topic, like, “Why do we need common denominators?” or “Why does the commutative property work?” His answer was always along the lines of, “Because my teacher told me so.”

And this made me realize that his math foundations were about as solid as melted butter.

    Which in turn forced me to scale back the goal of the game I was making. By a lot. The game I was working on relied on an understanding of the basic operations, something I take for granted. I just assumed that kids who struggle with fractions are only missing the last piece, the concept of a number that’s not a whole number. But I learned that even the concept of addition is not something every child is taught properly. So while Ishani continued her work on a game that taught how to multiply and divide fractions, I started making a game that taught kids how to add.

    And, I freely admit, this frustrated the hell out of me. I mean, if a kid is three, four grades behind, I’m inclined to want to introduce new content, to try to catch them up. I didn’t want to turn around and go even farther back. By making this game that showed kids how to do things they already knew how to do, at least mechanically, I didn’t feel like I was helping anybody. However, I know that this game will strengthen critical foundations, which will, in turn, allow kids to move on to more advanced math and hopefully catch up to their grade level.

Last Three Visits to Lifemoves Homeless Shelter

As we continued to work with Lifemoves Homeless Shelter the kids became more attached to us and got excited every time we would show up. During the first three visits we felt that the kids were shy and were getting to know us but when we showed up the last three visits the kids ran up to us and asked if we could play the games we played the last time. What we found the most interesting was how happy these kids were when we would show up because they knew that they could have fun and play around with older kids. Many people would expect these kids to be depressed and not want to play at all, however, it is quite the opposite. These kids love having fun and are actually very smart. One girl Mia was always reading and would never put down her book. She had way more enthusiasm about reading than most of us at Menlo have and that was really great to see from our perspective. 

Ben and I certainly learned a lot about ourselves through this project. We not expecting to be so attached to these kids when we first started, yet every time we would leave the parking lot one of us would turn to the other and say “I really hope these kids can escape the cycle of homelessness,” We felt a deep connection to these kids. We certainly want these kids to be successful in school and whatever they are interested in and we really hope that we made a true impact on these kids lives because these kids made a huge impact in our lives. While we were playing basketball we would ask the kids about school and push the fact that school is unbelievably important and we can only hope the kids listened. But if we made a difference in one or two of these kids lives then I would be extremely happy. 

First Three Visits to Lifemoves Homeless Shelter

When deciding to work with Lifemoves homeless shelter for our PACT project, we created two goals. Our first goal was to make a difference in some meaningful way in the lives of the kids that we worked with and our second goal was to gain a greater understanding about how poverty affects families who are served by the Shelter Network. We would be working weekday evenings with kids, playing outdoor activities with them and keeping them entertained while their parents attended mandatory workshops provided by Lifemoves which is a homeless shelter that provides the people staying in the shelter with job help because they are completely focused on the full experience of the shelter not just giving people a place to stay. They have many shelters all over the bay area some for families and some for single people with no families. 

When we first met the children, we agreed that their enthusiasm and energy were mind-blowing! All the kids, even after long days at camp and with their families, were still excited to do sports activities with us and get to know us. We played the basketball game “Horse” with all of the kids on our first day, and we got to know a girl named Anna while playing. She told us how going outdoors was her favorite part of the day, because it was relaxing and fun; clearly she was grateful we were there. Later on that evening, we had to settle a dispute between two eight-year-old boys who were fighting over the rules of a Four Square game. We explained that instead of screaming at one another, it would be more valuable to try to clarify the rules for future play and they asked us to help settle the outcome. Afterwards when we resolved their dispute, we joined them to finish the game. 

We believe we made a genuine impact on all the families' lives by donating our time and attention to work with the kids. When the kids were with us, we taught them fun games, the idea of sportsmanship, and teamwork. Meanwhile, the parents got some much needed free time to learn about ways to escape poverty and help their families in the future. Though at times we agreed it was very sad to witness the tough lives these families were experiencing, we gained a sincere appreciation for the efforts of the Lifemoves homeless shelter. The experience has been very rewarding so far, and we continue to look forward to hanging out with the kids more throughout the school year.

Second PACT Reflection

Colton Conley

3/17/16 - Present

International Institute

Sam Bianco

sbianco@iibayarea.org

Now, I’m a much more proficient teacher and Spanish speaker.  I’ve taught the beginner, advanced, and Spanish-only classes by now but still focus on the beginner class.  I’m able to lead a class on my own, and can communicate by ideas about grammar and US civics in Spanish with a newfound fluency. 

Teaching at the International Institute has also given me a significant amount of perspective on how lucky we are to attend Menlo.  It reminds me how privileged I was to be born in a place where everyone goes to school, and how privileged we are to get such a high quality education.  Many of my students never had the opportunity to learn in a traditional classroom setting, and those who did were not attending a school like Menlo.  It’s incredibly rewarding to use the stellar education I’ve received in Spanish and US History to give back to others and provide them (and their children) with the opportunities we have in their area.  

So, I’m continuing to volunteer here not just because it’s a great way to practice my Spanish, but also an incredibly rewarding experience.  Getting to know the students and making connections is truly gratifying, especially when they graduate to the next class or pass their test.  I know that the work I’m doing here really matters because I can see firsthand how much becoming an American citizen means to everyone in my class, and how happy they are when they pass.  My favorite classes are always when new citizens come back and bring pizza, tamales, and sopes to celebrate their achievement.  It’s really awesome feeling knowing you made such a big difference in someone’s life.  

First PACT Reflection

Colton Conley

3/3/16 - 3/17/16

International Institute

Sam Bianco

sbianco@iibayarea.org

On my first day volunteering at the International Institute, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  The website said I would be teaching a class on government and civics, and mentioned that basic English was a requirement for the job.  I obviously met that requirement, but the implied requirement - fluent Spanish - had me a little more concerned. 

On day one I had a meeting with the director of the organization and jumped straight into teaching.  I started out in the beginner class, and luckily there were a couple of other volunteers to help me pick things up.  I quickly learned what a typical class consisted of, how things were done, and what the citizenship test consisted of.  There was a steep learning curve at the beginning, but once I got into the swing of things, volunteering became one of the most relaxing  and enjoyable experiences I had each week.  

Classes usually consist of the following segments: Dictation, reading, grammar lessons, civics lessons, fluency lines, mock interviews, and other activities such as worksheets or flashcards.  The goal of the class is to prepare immigrants to pass their citizenship tests, so each part of the class is geared towards preparing them for a certain segment of the test.  Some sections we practice outright - like dictations, where the immigration official reads a sentence in English and the interviewee has to transcribe it.  There is also a civics portion, where the interviewer asks ten questions about US civics and history.  To prep for this portion, we teach English (so they can understand the question and give an answer) and we also teach civics so that they have the information necessary to answer the questions.  Finally, we even prep our students for the chit chat they will have with the officer and the section where they are asked about their backgrounds and application.  Usually, we prep this portion by using fluency lines and mock interviews.

After a few weeks, I began to get accustomed to the kind of lesson plans we used, and I became a much more proficient teacher.  I also got to know my student’s names more, and began forming real connections learning about their backgrounds and why they wanted to get their citizenships.  

Ishani - Second PACT Reflection

Ishani Thakur

August 15th, 2016

Jun Ru/Ishani Organization 

??

??

Today we went to Project Read and showed Joahan (an eighth grader in the Redwood City public school system) Jun Ru’s game of repeated addition. Essentially, the game had kids tie rope together to simulate addition. The lengths of each rope segment represented a number and the kids had to add the numbers together to get to the answer. Joahan’s reaction to the game was awesome, to say the least. He not only called it “cool”, but he thought it would help his little brother who is in the third grade. When interacting with the game, we could tell that not only was Joahan engaged, but he was also inadvertently acquiring a physical sense for what addition was. By being able to arrange the ropes in any order, Joahan got a sense for the what the commutative property was, and by putting the ropes together he understood the essence of addition, pudding things together. It made me realize the impact that I could have on students. Through a simple game, I could see Joahan understanding more and more math. It was very rewarding.

Furthermore, during our visit we played a board game (in addition to the computer game) called Allowance. In the game, Joahan had to subtract $1.75 from $5.00 and he struggled a lot with this simple subtraction. Initially, I believed he was making silly mistakes, but the problem was much deeper. Joahan didn’t understand what subtraction meant. He could mechanically go through the motions, but he didn’t understand that he was taking something away from something else. We had to explain that he had to think of subtraction in the context of a number line and making hops on a number line. By trying to convey a physical sense for subtraction, I realized that my assumptions about general education in the US are too high. Not everyone has access to the same level of education as I do and that leaves holes in kids’ math knowledge. I went into the PACT project believing that I didn’t have to start from the base level of mathematics, but unfortunately we had to teach them the basics through our games. It was very humbling to see how different my and Joahan’s education has been.

I was surprised at how saddened I was at seeing Joahan struggle with basic concepts. I wanted to sit down with him for hours and hours and teach him everything I know to help him reach an eighth grade level of math. I also noticed that he felt uncomfortable when doing math. It stems from not knowing as much as others, and I sincerely hope he is able to fix these gaps. Doing my PACT project has helped me realize that I need to somehow help tutor or fix the education system in the future. 

Ishani - First PACT Reflection

Ishani Thakur

March 3rd, 2016

Jun Ru/Ishani Organization 

??

??

Jun Ru and I have been working for three weeks now on our games. When we initially started to construct a vision for our games, I went through the motions I had been through before when teaching other kids math. I thought that we could teach kids how to approach math in a more physical manner, meaning instead of just memorizing how to solve a particular problem, they would be able to assess a given problem and use their skills to solve it. But Jun Ru, having tutored Joahan, an underprivileged kid, in math before, helped me realize that this was an unreasonable goal because the kids have little to no foundation for learning math. It’s not their fault or the teacher’s fault, it’s just that there are too many kids for teacher to teach effectively. So we started at the beginning and tried to analyze what kids really needed, basic fraction multiplication and division. We also wanted to help kids get a physical sense for what they were doing when they were multiplying and dividing fractions. I focused on fraction division and designed a game where kids were initially asked a whole number divided by a fraction. To solve the problem, the kids were asked to see how many of the fraction fit into the whole number. They did this visually by drawing and dividing rectangles into the fraction and counting how many pieces there were. Then the game asked kids to solve problems concerning the division of two fractions. Simple problems such as 1/2 / 1/8 were done in the same visual manner as the earlier problems, however when it came to fractions that were harder to draw, the game showed the kids that dividing fractions were equivalent to multiplying by the reciprocal. This was stated as a fact initially, but the game showed the kids the past problems they had solved visually, providing a physical sense as to why dividing a fraction is equivalent to multiplying by its reciprocal.  When creating this game, I realized how privileged I am to go the Menlo School. Thanks to the teachers at Menlo I am able to look at a math problem with a physical sense, when these kids are struggling with simple fraction multiplication and division. I will be forever grateful for this, and in turn want to help other kids understand math and how to use it to their advantage.

My Second Mexicali Mission Trip

Avery King

02/12/16-02/18/16

Menlo Church Mexicali Mission Trip

Brett Koerten

bkoerten@menlo.church

It was finally time to return to Mexicali again. On the night of the 12th we piled into buses and made our way down to Mexico. I was so excited to reunite with Jariza and Gensis and I hoped they remembered me too. We arrived in Echeverria- it looked the same as we had left it. We built another sidewalk/patio area for the Mexicans and we brought tons of sports equipment. We played with them, ate with them, and prayed with them. The people in Mexicali taught me the power of a smile because without being able to speak, a simple smile spoke volumes and was incredibly meaningful. Also, the importance of generosity because even though the people living in Eche live in poverty they still give so much. The last day two of the girls in Eche took their own bracelets off their own wrists and put them on ours and this stood out to me a lot because they have close to nothing and they are still willing to give so much away. I could not have chosen a better place to spend ski week. It was hard work and it most definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. We ate authentic Mexican food (which made me sick:() and we worked all day in the sun to repair their village, but I learned so much from this experience. I miss Jariza and Genesis and I cannot wait to see them again this spring we I return to Mexico.

My First Mexicali Mission Trip

Avery King

02/12/15-02/18/15

Menlo Church Mexicali Mission Trip

Brett Koerten
bkoerten@menlo.church

On the night of the 12th, I brought my bags and pillow to the Menlo Church and piled into the bus with my church friends. We braced ourselves for a long 18 hour trip down to Mexico. Some of my friends who had gone on the trip before reminisced and enthusiastically anticipated reuniting with their Mexican friends whom they had served in the past. We made friendship bracelets to pass the time. The next morning we arrived in Mexico. Our day started out with breakfast and worship (as this was a Christian mission trip), next we piled into small vans in which we drove to small villages. My village was called Echeverria. It was small, run down, and clearly in need of donations. The houses were not real houses, the basketball hoop was netless, and it was hot! However, the locals did not see these flaws; they were only grateful for what they did have. They welcomed us with open arms and offered us homemade food. In particular, I bonded with two girls- Genesis and Jariza. These girls will always hold a special place in my heart. I take French so I do not know any Spanish (there were translators among us, but I did not use them much). Even with the tall barrier of language, I was still able to make strong, lasting friendships with these two girls. In terms of service, we brought loads of donations to these people (such as sports equipment, toys, food, etc.); we also built them a sidewalk and helped them clean up their church area. Even though we donated things and time, the Mexicans gave more to me than I gave to them. I learned so much about faith and gratefulness from these people and I am so blessed to call the people in Echeverria my second family.

Save the Bay 2

Aaron Brown

July 9, 2016

Save the bay

Nissa and Jack

Did not get contact info – try info@savesfbay.org or rcardona@savesfbay.org

This organization has improved over the past two years. They have a better set of gloves which is nice for the volunteers. These gloves are more sturdy, so when we pull thistles, it does not hurt as much. Over the past few visits I have been wearing long pants and long sleeve shirts and a jackets so that I could protect myself from the thistles. This strategy has worked fairly well. The only issue is that my shoes and socks are vulnerable and I occasionally have to take off my shoes and pull out a thistle that gets stuck in there. The organization seems to be making significant progress in the fight against invasive species. Some spots that were covered in iceberg plants, thistles, and mustard last year are now thriving with native species. They also seem to be making a strong political effort to get laws passed in their favor. Recently, they pushed for measure AA which would grant half a billion dollars to protecting and preserving the bay. It received overwhelming support with almost 70% of California voters voting yes. Despite the progress, each day still feels a little bit fruitless. 30 to 60 volunteers working for three hours can only clear out a small patch of weeds. I guess if they keep it up over time, we will see a bigger impact. I think that their political action is very impactful and will be helpful for their conservation efforts.

Save the Bay 1

Aaron Brown

Aug 1, 2015

Save the Bay

Bryan and Jack

Did not get contact info – try info@saveSFbay.org or rcardona@savesfbay.org

I like Save the Bay because I get to be outdoors and work towards a goal I care about. A typical day involves weeding (pulling out invasive species) and watering the native species. The invasive species are iceberg plants, thistles, and mustard. The iceberg plants are green and red and low to the ground. They are easy to pick out. Typically we use a small, handheld shovel to scrape them out of the ground. As I was scraping these out of the ground, I stepped into an anthill and a bunch of ants started to run into my shoes and up my legs. I had to quit pulling for a while to get all of the ants off. Mustard are also quite easy to pull. We just grab them near the ground and pull. Thistles are the hardest to get rid of. They have small, spiky thistles that irritate the skin. With thistles, we need to use a tool that is like a hammer that helps us hack away at the root of the thistle. The roots are very strong, so it can take a while just to pull out one plant. Watering plants is pretty easy. We put mulch around the native species, grab a water bucket, and pour a few cups of water onto the root of the plant.

VTS Post 2

Nikhil Singhal

July 29, 2016

VillageTech Solutions

Skip Stritter

skip@stritter.com

            Working at VTS this summer has been an incredible experience. Even though, as I mentioned before, we couldn’t interact directly with the people we were trying to help, VTS instead created a strong community within the volunteers to foster cooperation between teams as well as between teammates. I thought this teamwork aspect of volunteering was a vital part of the VTS experience that I’d missed the year before, since it allowed us to get so much more done with more passion for our work and the difference we could make.

            I also found that my appreciation for indirect volunteering groups (like Looma) grew because of our work and the environment. Before this summer, volunteer opportunities like this seemed like they were scarce mostly because they were so much less important, but I began to change my mind about half way through the summer. While reviewing our project, one of the VTS founders told us about all the hoops they had had to jump through just to get access to Nepali government textbooks to get material, not to mention the whole process of implementing the Looma program in public schools. I started appreciating all the work that had to be done behind the scenes to make anything happen for an organization like this. I realized that, without our work here, volunteers couldn’t do much of anything even if they were directly in Nepal.

            I think my work at VTS this summer will truly make a difference. This simple tool we created will completely revamp the dictionary, which could greatly improve their language development and be the difference needed to give them the opportunities they deserve. And maybe it won’t make as a big difference as that, but, if it helps just one child, I’ll be satisfied.

VTS Post 1

Nikhil Singhal

July 18, 2016

VillageTech Solutions

Skip Stritter

skip@stritter.com

This summer I’ve been volunteering for VillageTech Solutions (VTS), an organization that finds and solves critical issues in Nepal. Their projects include wire bridges, earthquake relief, and the project I’m working on, Looma, a computer system for underfunded Nepali classrooms where students miss out on opportunities and even simple supplies we take for granted. I actually worked on this project last summer, but I was only able to work online and therefore wasn’t surprised to feel disconnected from the organization and the people it helps. I thought that this year, since I would be working directly with the organization, the work environment would somehow create that missing connection so the experience would be more emotionally rewarding, but in reality, since we had no way to contact any of the recipients of the computers, it felt as centered on the volunteers’ experience as the students’. That isn’t to say we didn’t do good work for a good cause. Everyone at VTS has worked hard every day for the last month to give kids we’d never meet the best educational opportunities possible.

My project this year with Colton and Anika is a tool to automatically create simple, bilingual dictionary entries. Even though this sounds like a simple job that I shouldn’t need to do, it’s actually extremely important. Before this, the dictionary was written by hand, and included few definitions, many of which were incorrect or far too complex. Now, the entries are automatically created from dictionaries designed for second language learners and children. My project will free up time for volunteers to do even more work and help to make sure these kids have the opportunity to learn both English and Nepali as well as they can, so, even though I’m not directly working with them, I feel like I’ve made a difference.